


Promises

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Following
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: 1-million-words, F/M, Het, Romance, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2015-06-19
Packaged: 2018-04-05 04:58:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4166853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike makes Debra a promise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promises

**Author's Note:**

> One Million Words June Bingo  
> Prompt : against all odds

Before he got co-opted onto the Carroll task force, Mike didn't have much of an opinion on hospitals, thinking of them as a kind of necessary evil. His only experience with them had been the usual kind of injuries that active little boys get - one broken leg, twice a broken arm - and an unpleasant but by all accounts fairly routine case of appendicitis as a teenager. 

Since Joe Carroll escaped from prison, though, he's gained a whole new experience of hospitals and, consequently, a hatred for them. 

He'd been beaten and stabbed, almost bled to death, and he'd checked himself out AMA as soon as he could. 

He'd been back in a different hospital less than forty eight hours later, getting checked out after Joe Carroll held a knife to his throat. 

Less than a week after that, he'd sat at Debra's bedside as she'd fought against the oxygen mask covering her face, woke screaming as her hands clawed at the coffin she'd thought she was still in. 

"Promise me something," he asked when he held her in his arms after she'd calmed down. "No more hospitals."

She chucked, her voice made husky by lack of oxygen and screaming. "Deal."

What's that saying? Man plans, God laughs?

Because less than a year later, they were back in hospital, Mike once again holding her hand as tears ran down her face and they stared through the plastic incubator at the seven month miracle they'd never imagined they'd have. Pushing forty, Debra had thought her child-bearing years long past so the pregnancy had been a surprise, and with her medical history, combined with hyperemesis so severe she could barely lift her head, not an entirely welcome one. They both knew that giving birth two months early had been as much blessing as curse, because while Debra's battle had ended, their daughter's was only just beginning. 

The doctors hadn't held out much hope, nor had Debra, who had lost so much in her life that she was afraid to trust anyone, anything. Mike had held firm as he held her hand, telling her that their little girl was a fighter, just like her mom, that she was going to be fine. 

And against all odds, here they are today, walking out of the hospital to take her home. Riley's dark eyes, so like Debra's, blink up at him as he fastens her into her car seat and he grins as Debra's eyes meet his. 

"Promise me something?" she asks and he could say it with her, but he doesn't. "No more hospitals." 

He doesn't think twice. "Deal."


End file.
